Soundtrack of My Summer
by LetTheRadioBreakTheSilence
Summary: I had to find her...the girl who kissed me. I thought about her all day. Not that there was much else to do in this small town. Once I do find her, will I be able to keep her? Will they be able to tear us apart? What about the tour? ShanexOC, Smitchie.
1. Chapter 1

"Dude, it's just not fair," Jason whined. "All the cool stuff happens to you."

I laughed. I had been offered a part in a new movie that morning and, as usual, Jason had to bitch about why they had chosen me over him before he could just be happy for me. "Come on, cool stuff happens to you guys, too."

We had a couple weeks off from the tour, and we had told our management that we didn't care where we spent it, as long as it was a hundred miles from the nearest paparazzi. We'd meant more along the lines of a high security resort, but here we were, in a small diner, in a small town in Michigan that I hadn't bothered to learn the name of. While it was true enough that the paparazzi would never find us, I wasn't thrilled at the notion of living without Starbucks for two weeks; but at least the coffee at the diner wasn't too bad.

"Name one thing," Jason dared me.

"The album went platinum!" That was lucky, right? I thought we were all pretty damn lucky.

Nate shook his head. "That happened to _us_, not to _him_…"

"Oh…well…"

I thought about the question for a minute, but I got distracted when I noticed a group of girls at a booth in the corner. They were laughing about something one of them said. They were all pretty, around my age, but one of them _really_ stood out. She had the most amazing smile I'd ever seen. She pushed a strand of long red hair away from her face and whispered something to the pretty blonde girl sitting next to her.

"See? You can't even think of one thing!"

"I don't think that's why he isn't saying anything…" Nate smirked, following my gaze towards the girls.

Jason glanced over his shoulder to see what we were looking at. The blonde girl caught us staring at her friend. Shit, that was embarrassing. She nudged the redhead and pointed towards us. We all turned around quickly, but it was too late; they were all laughing at us.

"Way to be obvious, guys," I said sarcastically. "That was just beautiful."

"No, but she sure is," Jason admitted. "And, _lucky you_, you saw her first."

"Shut up," I laughed. I swear, he was a three-year old trapped in a 23-year olds' body. "Let's get out of here before we give them any more reasons to laugh at us. And I'm _not_ that lucky."

I stood up and grabbed my jacket. I took a subtle glace over at the girls; they were all getting up, too. I stood out of the way so that they could get passed me in the narrow aisle. The fact that I'd get to stare at her ass didn't hurt, either.

"Hey," the pretty redhead smiled mischievously at me. What, was she _mocking_ me now? I was embarrassed enough as it was.

"Hey…"

Before I could say anything else, she grabbed my tie and pulled my lips to hers. A spark of electricity surged through my body. It was the weirdest thing. I'd never experienced anything like that before. After a moment, she broke the kiss and winked at me. Then she just walked away.

"What the…" Nate started, but stopped as he saw her hold out her hand. The other girls were handing her money.

"Do you still want to argue about luck now?" Jason smirked. "Hot girls don't come up and kiss me out of the blue, not even for money."

I barely heard them. I watched her walk out the door, laughing with her friends, and tried to figure out what the hell it was that I had just felt.

I thought about her all day. It's not that I had much else to think about; as far as I could tell, there was _nothing _to do in this town, wherever the hell we were. We spent most of the day lounging around watching movies at the house the record label had rented for us.

I glanced at my watch as _2 Fast 2 Furious_ ended. It was almost ten o'clock. I was so bored, and I wanted to go find her. But how the hell would I do that? I didn't even know her name.

"Do you guys wanna order pizza or something?" Jason asked lazily, flipping through the movie channels to find the film that would occupy the next two hours of our lives.

"I think I'm going to go for a walk," I replied, getting up off the couch and sliding on my shoes. I may have no idea where, or who, she was, but I knew I wasn't going to find her sitting in front of the television. "I'll see you guys later."

"Bye," my friends muttered as I grabbed his jacket and pushed the door open, emerging into the warm breeze.

I headed to the only place I could think to start looking for her – the diner. It was only about a five minute walk from the house. Luckily, it was still open. I walked in and looked around; I wasn't sure why, because I hadn't really expected her to be there, and she wasn't. I saw my waiter from earlier behind the counter. He looked like he was around my age.

"Excuse me," I said, getting the water's attention. "There was this girl here earlier…she had red hair…"

"Gracie," the man said. "The girl that kissed you."

"You know her?"

"Yeah, Grace is one of my girlfriend's roommates," he explained.

"Great," I smiled. That was easy. "I'm looking for her."

"You're not gonna slap her with a sexual assault lawsuit or anything, are you?" the waiter laughed. "She's a little wild, but she's harmless."

"No, nothing like that," I smirked. Wild? I liked the sound of that.

The man looked at his watch. "My shift ends in fifteen minutes. They're having a bonfire tonight. If you want to wait, you can come."

"Yeah, definitely," I nodded. "Thanks. I'm Shane, by the way."

"I'm Matthew," the waiter called, going back to wiping the counters.

I sat down in a booth, feeling accomplished. That had been much easier than I thought. I guess I should have expected that someone would know her – I bet there were only like, fifty people in the whole town. But what was I going to say to her when I saw her? I was getting a little nervous. Would she think it was creepy that I had been looking for her? I thought it would kind of be hypocritical for her to think that, since she _was_ the one who kissed a stranger.

"Ready?" Matthew asked.

"Yeah," I replied, standing up and following him out the door onto the street. "Are you sure it's okay that I just show up?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it, man," Matthew assured me. "Most of the people who usually show up didn't get invited by anyone who actually lives there."

"Okay."

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Review! I already have the first five chapters written, so I'll put a new one u p every couple days. REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Gracie, I brought you a surprise," Matthew called as we made their way down the beach to the fire pit. My stomach was tying itself in about a million knots.

"Yeah, Mattie? What is it?"

"Hi," I smiled once we stepped into the light of the fire.

She laughed, surprised. Good surprised, I hoped. "Hey."

Matthew walked away and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend – the blonde girl I had seen with Grace at the diner.

"How much did you win?" I asked.

"Eighty bucks," she told me. "I hope you didn't come here because you thought you deserved half. That's how I pay my way through college…kissing all the rock stars who show up around here."

"No, you can keep it," I laughed. "I'm Shane."

"I know. I'm Grace."

She was even more beautiful than I remembered, if that was possible. Her red hair was pulled into a messy bun and she wore a white and pink University of Michigan hoodie and tight jeans.

"What are you doing here, anyways?" she asked.

Shit. She thinks I'm a creeper. "Oh, Matthew said it would be okay…"

"No," she smiled. "I mean like, _here_, as opposed to LA or something."

"Oh," I sighed, relieved. Thank God. I had been afraid that I wasn't welcome. "We have a couple weeks off from the tour and we told our manager to send us somewhere nobody would find us."

"Well, you've come to the right place," Grace laughed. She reached into the cooler and grabbed a beer, offering it to me. I took it, and she pulled out a Smirnoff Twist for herself and sat down on a bench that had been set up around the fire. "Even if they knew where you were, they probably wouldn't be able to figure out how to get here."

I sat down next to her, very aware of how close we were. God, I didn't even know her and I already wanted to put my arm around her. "Where are we, exactly?"

"Oscoda."

I looked out over the beach to the dark water. I'd sure as hell never heard of this place, but I could already see why someone would want to live there. It was relaxing. "Is that one of the Great Lakes?"

Grace nodded, taking a sip of her drink. "Lake Huron."

I had no idea what to say. I was so nervous. I looked around at the other people for a few minutes and sipped my beer. I didn't know how to ask her the one thing I really wanted to ask. There were probably about fifteen other people there, all about my age. I recognized a couple of the other girls I had seen at the diner.

Oh God, she was looking at me.

"What?"

She smiled. "You're really quiet."

"I'm not usually," I told her. "I'm just…um…"

"Do I make you nervous?" she asked.

"No," I replied immediately, but she could tell I was lying. I was usually pretty smooth, so what the hell was going on?

"It's okay. I think it's cute."

My heart started pounding. Now I _had _to know. But there were so many people around; I didn't really want everyone to hear me ask her about the kiss.

"Do you want to take a walk?" I asked her.

She nodded. We stood up and walked down the beach, away from the others. I was playing it cool, but inside I was freaking out. What if she thought I was an idiot?

I stopped at the edge of the lake and tried to gather my thoughts. "Listen…the reason I really came here tonight…I wanted to ask you…"

"What?"

"Um…when you kissed me, earlier, did you…I don't know…notice anything?" I asked, realizing how stupid it sounded as soon as I said it.

"What do you mean?"

"Like…I don't know. I think you would know what I was talking about if you'd noticed," I sighed. So much for that.

"Well, try to explain it to me," Grace replied.

I thought for a moment. I didn't even know what I had felt, how was I supposed to explain it to her? "Well…it was like…"

No words came to mind. I knew there was only one way to find out, so I leaned towards her and pressed my lips against hers. I felt the same spark. She was kissing me back, I thought, so hopefully that meant she had felt it, too.

"What the fuck?" an angry voice said.

I broke their kiss just in time to see a blonde-haired man push me furiously.

"Who the hell do you think you are kissing my girlfriend?" the man shouted.

"Whoa, hold on," I started, trying to wrap I mind around what was going on; before I could, I felt a hard punch across my face.

"John, stop!" Grace begged, trying to get in between us.

John pushed her to the ground. "Shut up!"

_Hell no_. Hit me, fine. But there was no way I was going to sit back and watch him push a girl around. Especially not _that _girl. I pulled my arm back, preparing to hit him. Before I had the chance, Matthew and another guy grabbed us and pulled us away from each other.

"John, get out of here, nobody invited you," Matthew told him, pushing him.

"I'm not finished with you," John told me threateningly before turning and walking away down the beach.

I ran to Grace. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

I sat down next to her in the sand. "I'm sorry, I should have guessed that you had a boyfriend…"

Really, I should have. How did I think that a girl that beautiful was single? That was stupid.

"I don't," she told me. "I'm sorry. John is my _ex_-boyfriend. He just can't seem to get the first part through his head. He only lives a few houses down, he must have heard the music. I'm so sorry."

Grace touched my face gently, where a bruise was quickly forming around my eye. I flinched a little. "Sorry…does it hurt?"

"I'll be fine," I smiled. I really wanted to kiss her again, but decided to wait until John was a little further away. "Just as long as nobody took any pictures of that…"

"I'm so sorry," she said again. "We should get you some ice."

"Okay," I nodded, standing up and pulling her up from the sand. "And stop apologizing. You didn't do anything wrong."

"I know, but I still feel bad. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you…"

God, was she cute. "You could show me what you guys do for fun around here tomorrow. I spent like nine hours today watching movies with the guys."

Grace smiled. I wanted to make her smile all the time. "I think I can manage that."

She pushed the door to the house open and we entered the dark room. She flipped a light switch and opened the freezer, pulling out an ice pack. She put her hand on my arm and my heart jumped a little. She led me to the couch and sat down.

"Lie down," she said. "You're going to get a headache."

"Really, I'm fine," I promised.

"Lie down," she said seriously, pulling me down onto the couch and resting my head on her lap.

She placed the cold ice pack on my face gently. I didn't think it was really necessary, but I liked the attention she was giving me.

"I, um…I know we got a little interrupted, but…"

"Oh, right, the kiss," Grace smiled. I even liked her name. Everything about her was pretty. "I guess I could have just told you I felt something the first time and saved you the punch in the face."

She felt it, too. I'm pretty sure I had a ridiculous grin on my face, but I didn't even care. She felt it, too. I could have lived without the punch in the face, but if she'd told me, I wouldn't have gotten to kiss her again. "I'm kind of glad you didn't."

**A/N: Thanks for reading the chapter! REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 3

"Where the hell were you all night?" Nate asked me, very parental-like, as I strolled through the door that morning. "And what the hell happened to your eye?"

All I could do was smile. Grace and I had stayed up all night, just talking. She was so interesting, and we had so much in common. She made me laugh. And I really, _really _liked her now. I had had a chance to kiss her again, once, but I got nervous and didn't. I was kicking myself for that, but hopefully I'd have another opportunity. She had to work until one o'clock – she was a waitress – but we were going to go to the lake after that. I wanted her to make sure that she knew I wanted to kiss her, even though I hadn't, so I stopped at the florist on the way back to the house and had roses sent to the restaurant for her. It was pretty smooth, if I do say so myself.

Jason looked at me, shocked. "You were with hottie redhead, weren't you?!"

I just grinned.

"We've only been here one day and you _slept_ with hottie redhead?!"

"No, we just hung out. She's awesome," I replied. "And her name is Grace."

"If you don't introduce us to her hot friends, I swear to God…" Jason started.

"They're having another bonfire on Saturday, and she told me to invite you guys," I told him.

"What the hell am I going to do in the mean time? That's not for four days!"

I laughed. "I don't know…go out and find your own girls?"

I jogged upstairs before they could say anything else – I needed to get some sleep before she got off work. I changed into a pair of sweatpants and crawled into bed. I hadn't realized how tired I was. I set the alarm clock on my cell phone and set it on the nightstand. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I practically flew out of bed as soon as my alarm went off. I couldn't wait to see Grace. I took a shower and did my hair. It took me forever to find my swimming trunks in my suitcase, but I did eventually and pulled them on, along with a white polo. I grabbed my wallet and keys.

"See ya, guys," I called, pushing open the door and heading for one of the SUVs the label had rented for us.

I got that nervous-excited feeling in my stomach again as I drove over to her house. I was going to kiss her. _No matter what._ I hadn't thought about anything else since she had kissed me at the diner.

"Hey," Krista, the blonde girl, said as she opened the door. "Come in. I'll go get Gracie."

"Thanks."

I looked around the room, where I'd been just a few hours earlier. I'd honestly never felt so comfortable talking to someone before as I did last night with her. She was so open, it made me want to tell her stuff, too. There weren't a lot of people I could really, _really_ talk to without it ending up in the tabloids the next day, but she was different.

"Some guy sent me some really beautiful flowers at work today," Grace smiled as she walked towards me.

_Damn_. She was wearing a pink bikini and denim cut-off shorts, and her long hair fell down her back. She was actually breathtaking. Not in the plastic supermodel way that I was used to in LA, but _really_, genuinely breathtaking.

"He must really like you," I replied. God, I just wanted to wrap my arms around her tiny waist and kiss her as hard as I could.

"You're sweet," she smiled. Hell yes I am. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

She touched my face gently. "How does your eye feel?"

"It looks worse than it is," I promised. But that probably had a lot to do with the four Advil I'd taken earlier to ease the pain. And the fact that when she was touching me and the only thing I could really feel was her soft skin on my face. I wanted to kiss her _so bad_.

"Ready?" she smiled, and I nodded.

We walked out the door and down to the beach.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

"Well, you said you'd never been sailing, so…"

We walked down the beach to a pier, where there was a sailboat waiting. We spent the whole day out on the lake. I never knew that there was so much to sailing, but I liked how hard she tried to teach me. All I wanted to do was kiss her. Every time the wind blew her hair around, I wanted to wrap my arms around her. I still couldn't believe how easy she was to talk to.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked me while we were walking back from the pier as the sun set.

I looked absentmindedly at the waves splashing over my feet. I debated with myself for a minute about whether I should tell the truth or just make something up. What did I have to lose by telling the truth? If she didn't like me, it was probably better I knew now before I started liking her any more than I already did.

"How much I want to kiss you," I admitted.

She stopped walking. Shit. I turned around and looked at her nervously; she was smiling.

"So what's stopping you?" Grace asked sweetly.

What had been stopping me all day? I had no idea. So I took a step towards her and wrapped my arms around her waist, kissing her gently. I felt it again. The spark. I didn't think I'd ever get enough of that. Her body fit so perfectly against mine, like she was meant to be there. As I ran my fingers over her soft skin, I knew I had to have her.

At least, for the next two weeks.

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	4. Chapter 4

"I call hottie blonde," Jason told Nate as we pulled into the driveway for the bonfire.

"_Krista_ has a boyfriend," I told him. "But the hottie brunettes don't."

He shrugged. "Good enough for me."

I loved the feeling I got right before I saw her…and I'd seen her every day since I met her. I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning. That sounds so dumb, I know, but there's no other way to describe it. And I was excited for the guys to meet her. They'd been making fun of me for talking about her too much, but I knew they would understand once they met her.

"Hey," Grace smiled at me as we approached the bonfire.

"Hey," I replied. I put my arm around her. It felt so good to be able to do that. "Grace, this is Nate and Jason. Guys, this is Grace."

"I've heard a lot about you," she told them, shaking their hands.

Nate smirked. "Yeah, we've heard _a lot_ about you, too."

I gave him a look, but Grace winked at me and I couldn't help but smile. She was so cute.

"Where did Steph and Meredith go?" she asked, more to herself than anyone else. "They think you guys are so hot…"

"Hottie brunettes?" Jason mouthed to me. I nodded, and their faces lit up.

"Guys, come here," Grace called to her friends. "Jason, Nate, Stephanie, Meredith."

"Hey," they all said at the same time.

"Do you guys want a drink?" Stephanie asked. She was a little taller than Meredith, and I knew Jason would like her. He loved tall girls, and sure enough, he was already eying her.

"Yeah," my friends both nodded. They all walked over to the cooler.

"Hey," I called to Matthew and Krista, who were curled up in a chair by the fire. They were cool. We had hung out with them yesterday. They waved.

"Where's Gabby?" I asked – she was the only of Grace's roommates I couldn't see.

"Oh, her cousin is coming to stay with us for a few days. She went to pick her up from the airport, but I don't think they'll be back until tomorrow morning," she told me, wrapping her arms around my neck and resting her head on my chest.

I kissed the top of her head. I honestly didn't remember the last time I was so happy. It was crazy; I'd only known her a few days. It was just so hard to even try to get to know a girl when we were on tour. We were moving around every single day. Most of those girls only wanted to be seen with Shane Gray, anyways, so most of the time I didn't even bother. It was kind of lonely, actually. But I didn't feel that way around her. She was different.

"Thanks for inviting my friends. They've been so bored."

"No problem," she laughed. "Steph and Mer have been bugging me to get them over here."

"Jason's been accusing me of trying to keep all the hot girls for myself," I smirked. I pushed a strand of loose hair behind her ear. She was so beautiful. "But I told him there was only one girl I wanted."

She smiled and kissed me quickly. "You're really sweet."

God, was I good or what? But usually, I was just leading girls on; with Grace, I meant every word, and I was just hoping she liked me as much as I liked her. It was unchartered territory for me, actually caring about a girl, but I liked it. I had always made fun of Jason for practically falling in love with every pretty girl he saw, but if he felt this way around all of them, I didn't blame him. I would do anything to feel half as good as I did when I was with her all the time.

"We need more ice," Stephanie noticed, grabbing a bottle from the cooler.

"I'll get it," Grace offered.

"I'll come with you," I smiled.

I laced my fingers through hers as we walked to the house. She looked so pretty. She always looked pretty. I liked when she wore her hair down. I was happy just looking at her. But, I'm not gonna lie, I wanted to do a lot more than that. I'd barely even slept last night because I couldn't stop thinking about touching her perfect body.

As we stepped into the dark house, I pulled her into my arms before she could reach for the light switch.

"You're beautiful," I whispered, and I kissed her.

Grace wrapped her arms around my neck. She stood on her tip toes to deepen the kiss and ran her fingers through my hair. I swear to God, my knees actually went weak. I wanted her more than anything. Hell, I _had_ to have her. But when I started to run my hands up her shirt, taking in her smooth, perfect skin, she broke the kiss and walked away from me.

Shit. How had I read that situation so wrong? I must have looked like such an asshole. I didn't understand girls at all. We'd been spending so much time together, she liked kissing me, but she didn't want to sleep with me? I didn't get it.

"Grace…" I started. How do you apologize for being a douchebag?

"You coming?" she turned around and glanced at me.

"What?"

She smirked a little. "Well, we can do it on the couch if you want…but I think eventually they're going to realize we aren't bringing them any ice and someone will come in to get some…"

I must have had the dumbest grin on my face, but I didn't care. I wasn't a douchebag. She wanted exactly what I wanted. God, she was so hot.

"Shane?" she smiled. I loved how she said my name. "What are you still doing over there?"

Good question. I followed her to her bedroom, wrapping my arms around her from behind and kissing her neck. Tonight was going to be perfect, just like her.


	5. Chapter 5

My eyes flickered open and I looked around the room, but she wasn't there. I grabbed my jeans from the floor and pulled them on. Where the hell did my shirt go? I found my hoodie and put it on before I headed out of the room to look for her. I didn't bother zipping it up.

"Good morning, babe," I smiled when I found Grace in the kitchen. She was making pancakes.

So _that's_ where my shirt had gone – she was wearing it. I usually hated when girls did that, but I didn't mind with her. It made it seem like we were really a couple or something. I didn't want that with other girls, but with her, I was really hoping that was the direction we were headed in.

I hadn't wanted to leave, but after last night, I honestly didn't know if I would be _able_ to leave her. We just had a little over a week before we had to go back on the tour, and the thought of not falling asleep next to her was killing me. God, last night had been incredible.

"Good morning," she giggled as I kissed her neck.

"I think we're gonna need more pancakes," I smirked.

Nate had just walked out of Meredith's room, running his fingers through his curly hair groggily.

"Hey, man," he nodded, sitting down on a stool at the counter and resting his head in his arms.

"Coffee?" Grace smiled. She grabbed a mug from the shelf, filled it with coffee, and set it down in front of him.

He grabbed it quickly. "You're an angel."

"Hey, watch it," I told him jokingly.

"Can you take over for a minute? I want to wash my face," Grace asked me.

I nodded. She handed me the spatula and kissed my cheek. My eyes followed her out of the kitchen and down the hallway. No way was I going to be able to leave her.

"Dude, fuck the tour. Let's hide here forever," Nate laughed. "This place is like heaven."

"You read my mind," I replied.

I flipped the pancakes absentmindedly. If only it were that simple. I was finally starting to remember that there was more to life than just showing up and performing because I was told to, and I was going to have to leave it behind.

"Shane?!"

I knew that voice. But it couldn't be her…could it? I glanced towards the sound.

Shit.

"Mitchie…what are you doing here?"

"Gabby's my cousin, I'm staying here for a few days," she grinned, rushing towards me.

And then she kissed me. I wouldn't say that I had loved her, but it was the closest I'd ever come. It'd been four years since I'd met her at camp, and three and a half years since she'd cheated on me with some guy from her school. And now she was kissing me, like we could just pretend it never happened. I pushed her away, but not quick enough.

"Shane…" Nate said quietly, glancing behind me.

I turned around and saw Grace. She looked crushed.

"Grace…" I started, but she turned and disappeared into her room. "Baby, wait…"

I couldn't even believe this was happening. Of all people, why did Mitchie have to walk through the door? I knocked on Grace's door urgently. She had to let me explain. She _had_ to. I honestly thought I might die if she didn't.

"Gracie, please. Talk to me," I begged. "Come on, open the door."

She opened the door and looked at me sadly. It broke my heart to see her like that. Especially since she looked like that because of me.

"Grace…Mitchie and I had a thing a long time ago…we were seventeen. I haven't seen her since then. Ask Nate and Jason if you don't believe me, I don't care about her anymore. _She_ kissed _me_…I didn't want to kiss her. I don't want to kiss anyone but you," I explained. I didn't know whether or not that was really true. "Okay? _I don't want to kiss anyone but you_."

"Okay," she replied softly. "I believe you."

Thank God. I pulled her into my arms and kissed her forehead. I didn't know what to do. I trusted Grace. I didn't trust Mitchie, but after what she had done…but did I still have feelings for her? I didn't know. But I had to make a choice, and fast.

I took her hand and led her back into the kitchen. Stephanie had taken over making pancakes, and I laughed when I saw Jason sitting next to Nate at the counter. It looked like we'd all had a good night. Matthew and Krista came down the stairs.

"I knew I smelled pancakes," Matthew grinned. "Please tell me they're blueberry."

"Of course they're blueberry," Grace told him. She grabbed a bunch of mugs and started pouring coffee for everyone. "I know better than to try to make any other kind when you're here."

"I'm gonna go deal with this," I whispered to her, kissing her neck. She nodded, and I walked over to Mitchie, who was sitting on the couch. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Yeah," she smiled, following me out onto the porch.

She tried to kiss me again, but I stopped her before she could. "Listen, Mitchie, we're not gonna happen. You made your choice. I'm only here for another week, and I'm going to spend it with Grace. So it would probably be best if we just stayed out of each other's way."

I didn't like the way she was looking at me.

"Shane, I was lonely before. You were always so far away. But now…"

"I don't care what your reason was. You cheated on me. You don't get a second chance. So just leave me alone, because _we're not gonna happen._ Okay?" I probably would have sounded a lot more convincing if she didn't look so pretty.

"We'll see," she shrugged.

She walked back into the house before I could argue with her anymore. This wasn't going to be good, I could already tell. I followed her in. Grace smiled at me, looking for an indication of how it went. I smiled back, just so she wouldn't be upset anymore, but inside I had no idea what I was going to do.

Why couldn't relationships ever just be easy for me? Fifteen minutes ago, I was so happy. And now I would be spending the next week with the girl I almost fell in love with four years ago, and the girl I was almost falling in love with right now. But I'd made my decision, right or wrong, and I had to stick to it. I had to. I _had_ to.


	6. Chapter 6

Grace's shift didn't end for a little while, but I couldn't want to see her. I went to the restaurant she worked at to surprise her.

"Hey!" she grinned when I walked through the door. She glanced at her watch. "I don't get out for twenty minutes, but if you want to sit and have a cup of coffee or something…"

"Coffee sounds perfect," I replied.

"Did you already get a table?" a voice behind me said.

I closed my eyes. This was getting ridiculous. I'd barely had any time alone with Grace since Mitchie got here three days ago. She showed up everywhere I went. And every time I saw her, I started to remember more and more how I used to feel about her.

"Mitchie, what are you doing here?" I sighed.

She smiled smugly at Grace. "Table for two, please."

"I didn't invite her, baby," I told Grace. "I'm sorry."

She just smiled as I sat down in the booth across from Mitchie. If she was jealous, she did a good job of hiding it, which made me feel even worse about questioning my feelings for Mitchie. Grace trusted me, and all I wanted to do was be able to be with her, without thinking about Mitchie…but it was so hard when I had to see both of them every single day.

"Coffee?" she asked me.

"Yeah, thanks, babe."

"Me too," Mitchie chimed in. "With cream and sugar."

"Be right back," she told us.

"Mitchie, what do you want from me?" I asked desperately. I just wanted her to disappear.

"You know what I want," she smiled, resting her hand on mine. I pulled it away, but Grace had seen. Her smile faded a little.

"You're not going to get that," I told her seriously, trying to get it through my own head as much as hers. "I don't want to be with you anymore. Why is that so hard for you to understand?"

"Because I don't believe you."

Grace brought us our coffee. "I'm gonna go get my stuff and then we can get out of here."

"Okay," I agreed gratefully. The faster I could get away from Mitchie, the better.

"Shane, I know you like her," Mitchie said when Grace had disappeared to the back of the restaurant. "I don't blame you. She's beautiful. She's a really sweet girl. But I know you remember what we had, and I know you're going to make the right choice. And I'm not going to leave you alone until you do."

I didn't know what to say. I put my arm around Grace when she came back with her purse and hurried her out the door before Mitchie could catch up with us. We got into my SUV and started driving back to her house.

"I'm so sorry," I told her. "She won't leave me alone. I'm going to make this up to you."

She shrugged. "It's not your fault."

"I know, but…" I started, but I had no idea what I wanted to say. I just wanted to make her smile. The more I made her smile, the more I wanted to. I didn't remember feeling that way around Mitchie. "I just feel bad that she's screwing everything up…because I _really_ like you."

She did smile, a little. She laced her fingers through mine. "I really like you, too."

"I'm gonna take you somewhere she can't follow us tonight."

Now she really smiled. "Where?"

"It's a surprise," I replied.

I had rented a yacht for us to eat dinner on, and watch the sunset. It was over the top, I know, but I knew she would love it. And it's not like I didn't have the money.

"Shit."

"What's wrong?" I asked, pulling into the driveway.

She pointed to a white truck in front of the house. "That's John's truck."

Just thinking about that guy made me want to throw something. I still couldn't believe he had pushed her.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," she said, glancing at me questioningly.

I didn't know if I had any business asking her this question, but I had to know. "Did he hit you? When you were together?"

Grace looked down at her hands. She didn't say anything for a moment, which pretty much answered the question. "Well, there's a reason he's my _ex_-boyfriend…"

That did it. I was going to kick his ass. I turned off the car and got out, heading for the house angrily.

"John, she's not here. Will you just go…" Krista was trying to keep him out of the house. He pushed her a little.

"Hey!" I shouted. No way was he going to get away with pushing a girl twice.

He turned around, but I hit him before he could react. God, that felt good.

"Shane…" Grace started.

"How could you do this to me?" he screamed at her. I put my body in front of hers so he couldn't hurt her. "You are such a…"

Before he could finish, Matthew ran out of the house and tackled him to the ground. He punched him as hard as he could.

"If you _ever_ fucking touch my girlfriend again, I swear to God…" He probably would have hit him again, but Nate pulled him away. "I'm going to give you ten seconds to leave before I call the police."

"We're not over, Grace," John said as he walked to his truck.

"Yes you are!" I yelled back. "She's getting a restraining order."

"It's not that big a deal…" Grace started, but I pressed a finger against her lips to stop her.

"Yes, it is, Grace," I told her. "I'm not going to let him hurt you anymore. I'll call my lawyer and he can get all the paperwork done."

"No, I can't…"

I sighed. She was making this difficult. If she knew how strongly I felt about her, she would understand why it was so important to me, but I wasn't really ready to admit it yet. I wanted to be sure before I told her. I felt like a big enough asshole for still wrestling with my feelings for Mitchie, but if I told her how I felt about her and then betrayed her, I didn't know if I could live with myself. "Look…I've never wanted to take care of someone else before. It's kind of scary for me. So…just let me, please?"

She nodded and smiled at me. "Okay."

It was true. I'd never worried about taking care of Mitchie. I had really, _really_ liked her, but I was still immature then – the only person I'd worried about taking care of was myself.

Grace kissed me sweetly. And I felt it. The spark. The thing I'd never felt when I kissed Mitchie. And I knew I'd made the right choice.

**A/N: It might be a couple days before the next update…I tried to put some Smitchie in because people seemed to want it but now I don't really love the story anymore and I'm not really sure where it's going…oh well. I fail this time. I'll try to put up some good one shots soon to make up for it, haha. Thanks for reading! **


	7. Chapter 7

It was our last night there. We'd just spent the day shopping in a town a few miles away, and we were going to have one last bonfire before I had to go back on tour in the morning. I was just trying to push the thoughts of leaving out of my mind so I could enjoy my last few hours with her, but it was so hard. I couldn't stand the thought of being without her.

It was getting dark now. We had been on the way back to her house for the bonfire, but I'd realized that I'd left her gift at the house I was staying in – I'd gotten her a necklace. But I hoped it wouldn't just be to remember me by, since tonight was the night I was planning on telling her how I felt about her, and asking if we could be together. I wanted the necklace to be a surprise, though, so I told her that I wanted to see if the guys were there and wanted to drive over with us.

"Hey," Nate called to us from the kitchen when we stepped into the old house.

"Hey," we both replied.

"I'm just going to…" I started, trying to come up with an excuse to go up to my room.

"Shane…" Nate began.

"Hold on."

"No, seriously, Shane…" he said again, but I waved him off.

"Hang on…I'm just going to grab a sweatshirt," I told them, jogging up the stairs to my room.

I opened the door, which I didn't even remember closing earlier. My eyes fell onto my bed.

"Mitchie?" I whispered angrily. "What the hell are you…how did you get in here?"

She smiled at me seductively. She was only wearing a thin, black teddy. "Jason let me in."

Sometimes I hated that he only seemed to see the good in people. I'd told him about everything that had been going on, but he and Mitchie had always been friends. It probably never even crossed his mind that she would do something like this, but I would still probably bitch him out later for letting her in the house, much less my bedroom.

"Mitchie, you can't be here. I don't want you, so just leave me alone," I practically begged her.

"Shane?" I heard Grace call from downstairs.

"Uh…just a second!" I called back, trying to hide the fact that I was panicking. "Mitchie, I've told you that I want to be with Grace. Why can't you just respect that?"

"Shanie, I wish you'd stop saying that…" Mitchie pouted playfully, standing up and sauntering towards me until she was standing right in front of me.

"Get away from me."

"Shane, can I borrow a sweatsh…"

I spun around when I heard Grace's voice behind me, terrified. Seeing that look on her face…I swear to God, my heart must have broken into a million pieces. "Grace…"

"I see why you wanted me to wait downstairs," she said bitterly, backing away from me when I approached her. "Don't touch me."

"Grace, you don't understand. Just wait…" I started, but she was already running down the stairs and out the door.

I pulled out my cell phone and texted her quickly. "_Baby its not what it looked like just hear me out ok?"_

I collapsed onto the stairs and stared at my phone intently for a few minutes. When she didn't write back, I called her.

"Hey, this is Grace, I'm busy right now, but leave a message and I'll call you back!"

"Grace, baby, you have to let me explain. I didn't know she was here, Jason let her in, I would never do anything to hurt you. You have to believe me. I…I…call me back, please?" I rambled.

I realized that Nate was staring at me. I wondered how long he'd been watching this. "What's going on?"

"Where's Jason?" I demanded. I was going to kill him.

"I think he's still in the shower…why, what did he do?"

I rubbed my eyes. Maybe I would wake up and this would all be a nightmare. "He let Mitchie in and she was in my room half-naked."

Nate sighed heavily, knowing the rest of the story. "And Grace saw her and that's why she ran out."

I nodded and trudged back to my room. I didn't want to sit and talk about it with him. I had to figure out what to do. I didn't have much time to make this right. We were leaving first thing in the morning, and I couldn't go knowing that she thought I had done this to her.

"Get out," I yelled at Mitchie.

I fell onto my bed and closed my eyes. I wanted to go over to her house and explain myself, but if some of the other guys were there and she'd told them what had happened, I knew they wouldn't let me anywhere near her. She probably wouldn't believe me even if I got her to listen.

"Now that you don't have to choose…" Mitchie started, trying to sound sexy. "I guess…are you crying?"

My eyes flickered open. I hadn't even realized that a tear had started rolling down my cheek. I didn't even remember the last time I cried. "Mitchie, get out. I'm not going to say it again."

"But…"

"Shut up," I shouted at her. I couldn't help it. "You fucked up everything, and now Grace hates me and I'll never get to tell her…just leave. Now."

I didn't really care if I hurt her feelings. Actually, I hope I did. I never wanted to see her again.

She looked at me suspiciously, and a little sad. "Do you…do you _love_ her?"

"Yeah, I think I do," I admitted. "Not that you care."

"I should go," she whispered. She pulled a sundress over her lingerie and hurried out of the room.

I tried to call Grace again, but she still wouldn't answer. I called Krista's cell phone, but she didn't pick up, either. I scrolled through my phone to find the number to their landline.

"Hello?" someone answered. I could tell that it was Stephanie.

"Hey, it's…" I started, but she hung up before I could get any further. I guess Grace had already told them.

I kept calling her cell phone. I would keep redialing all night, if I had to. If she still wouldn't talk to me, I would go over there in the morning and make her listen. I loved her, and I was going to do whatever it took to let her know that.


	8. Chapter 8

I pulled up to Grace's house and parked the car. I had no idea what I was doing…I just knew I had to do it soon. I'd been calling her for hours and she still wouldn't pick up. Jason and Nate had tried to call Stephanie and Meredith, but they wouldn't talk about it. I was desperate. I glanced at the clock – it was almost 2am. We were leaving at 8am for Detroit, and we had a concert there that night. I was in no shape to perform, and if I didn't at least try to talk to her, I wasn't sure I ever would be again.

I started to walk slowly towards the house, trying to figure out what I would do once I got to the door. I thought about just walking in and finding her, no matter who answered the door, but once I saw Matthew's truck in the driveway I knew that wouldn't work. We'd become pretty good friends in two weeks, but he and Grace were like brother and sister and no matter how much he liked me, he wouldn't let me get near Grace if he thought it would upset her.

I hoped I would be able to get whoever answered the door to believe me so that they would let me in, but that seemed unlikely, too. What Grace had seen pretty much ruined any thoughts they may have had that I was a good guy, and Mitchie probably went back and told them that we had sex or something. God, what if Mitchie answered the door?

I froze about fifteen feet from the house when someone opened the door. In the dim porch light, I could see a mess of red hair thrown into a bun. She started walking towards the driveway.

"Grace?" I said quietly.

She jumped, turning around abruptly and looking towards me in the darkness. "Who's there?"

It was now or never, I guess. This was potentially the closest I would ever be to her again, so I had to get her to hear me out as much as I could before she ran back to the house…or wherever she had been trying to go before I scared her.

"It's me," I replied. I moved closer so she could see me. It was easy to see that she'd been crying. I just wanted to hug her and tell her it was going to be okay. "Listen, what you saw…whatever it looked like, it wasn't. Jason let her in while we were gone and I didn't know she was even…"

"Mitchie told me everything."

I sighed. Of course she had. She had made it her mission to make my life a living hell. "I know what she must have told you but it isn't true, I swear…"

She smiled a little. "So, you _don't_ love me?"

Had I just heard her right? What the hell was going on? "What?"

"Well…if what Mitchie told me wasn't true…" she smirked.

"What did she tell you?" I asked her.

"That she got into your room without you knowing…that she's been trying to get you back…that you've turned her down every time…and that you're falling in love with me."

Mitchie had told her that? I wanted to say something, but I was in shock.

"She just told me…I was actually out here because I was going to go over to your place," she smiled. It was so good to see her smile. "So…"

I didn't let her finish. I couldn't wait any longer to press my lips against hers and kiss her passionately. I had been so afraid that I'd never get to again.

"Baby…I think I love you. I know that sounds crazy, we haven't known each other that long, but…" I started, but she pressed her finger against my lips to silence me.

"It is crazy," she agreed. "But I think I love you, too."

I kissed her again. "Come on the tour with me."

"I can't, you know that," she shook her head. "I have a year of college left and the semester starts in a couple weeks. And I have a job here. I can't just leave."

I sighed. I knew that, but I had to ask. "Will you at least come to Detroit? I wrote a song for you."

Grace grinned. "I think I can manage that."

I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest. I was so happy. But there was one last thing I had to ask the beautiful girl standing in front of me. "I'm not really used to this, but I want to be with you more than anything, Gracie. Just you. I want you to be my girlfriend."

"I'd like that," she nodded.

"There's one more thing…" I started, pulling the necklace out of my pocket.

She gasped. "Shane, it's…"

"Not as beautiful as you," I assured her, clasping it around her neck.

She touched it gently and looked up at me. "Thank you."

"No, thank _you_," I replied. "For the best vacation of my life."

"Let's go inside."

I nodded and took her hand, following her into the house. As soon as we walked in, I saw Mitchie curled up on the couch.

"Mitchie…thank you," I said sincerely.

She nodded at me, forcing a weak smile. I still wasn't sure she deserved it, since everything that had happened was her fault, but at this point, I was too happy to be mad at her. I had my girl, and that was all that mattered.

I kissed Grace's neck gently as I followed her into her room, and sang the song I had written for her softly in her ear.

"_Your voice was the soundtrack of my summer_

_Do you know you're unlike any other?_

_You'll always be my thunder_

_Your eyes are the brightest of all the colors_

_I don't ever wanna love another_

_You'll always be my thunder…"_

And when she silenced me with a sweet kiss, I felt it again.

The spark.

**A/N: THE END. The song is "Thunder" by Boys Like Girls. Sorry for those of you who wanted a happy Smitchie ending, but…read my one-shots "Tired" and "Get Back"! Hopefully that will fulfill your Smitchie needs. I really like the characters in this story, I just didn't like how some of the storyline ended up, but I've been having some ideas for a sequel. That way I can still use the characters but kind of "start fresh" with the story. I guess we'll wait and see if that actually turns into anything. Thanks so much for reading! Review!**


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